Berkman Buzz: Week of April 21, 2008

BERKMAN BUZZ:  A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations.  If you'd like to receive this by email, just sign up here. The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School

Week of April 21, 2008

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What's going on...take your pick or browse below.

*David Weinberger can haz ROFLCon
*Doc Searls weighs in on the internet as infrastructure
*Ethan Zuckerman discusses the continuing election crisis in Zimbabwe
*William McGeveran looks at the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision on ISP data
*Jake Shapiro talks about voluntary payment for iTunes U and other free iTunes content
*Weekly Global Voices: "Japan: Where has all the butter gone?"
*Weekly Berkman@10: "Ethan Zuckerman: the history of digital community, in less than 7 minutes"

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The Full Buzz

"I’m talking tomorrow at ROFLcon, a conference about Web fame, celebrity and culture. I’m supposed to be talking in a general way about Web fame. Then I’m leading a panel composed of men (yup) who are Web famous: Kyle Macdonald (One Red Paperclip), Joe Mathelete (Joe Mathelete Explains Marmaduke), Ian Spector (Chuck Norris Facts), Andy Ochiltree (JibJab.com), Andrew Baron (Rocketboom), Alex Tew (The Million Dollar Homepage)..."
From David Weinberger's blogpost, "Web fame - notes on my talk-to-be at ROFLcon"

"Is Linux infrastructure? Or is it just another operating system, like Windows, MacOS and various Unixes? How about the Internet? Is the Net infrastructure? Or is it just the #3 "service" in the "triple play" sold by your local phone or cable company? How about the half million or more free software and open source applications out there? Are they infrastructural building material? Or are they just a bunch of computer applications that are exceptional mostly because nearly all of them cost nothing..."
From DocSearls' blogpost, "
<http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/understanding-infrastructure>


"As the post-election crisis lurches on in Zimbabwe, the question on everyone’s mind is “What next?” The ZANU-PF government briefly signalled an interest in a “transitional government of national unity” - headed by President Mugabe, of course, but involving opposition MDC politicians as well. The Herald - a state-owned newspaper which floated that idea of national unity - has changed course and now runs an editorial titled “Unity govt not feasible“. Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga renounced the previous statements about unity and emphasized that ZANU-PF would challenge MDC in a run-off election..."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blogpost, "Zimbabweans on next steps in the electoral crisis" <http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/04/23/zimbabweans-on-next-steps-in-the-electoral-crisis/>
About Ethan Zuckerman:
<http://cyber.harvard.edu/people/ezuckerman>

"The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on Monday ruling that the state’s constitution goes further than the United States Constitution by requiring a warrant before the government can obtain subscriber information from an information service provider (such as linking a name to an IP address). Under controlling Fourth Amendment precedent, individuals have no expectation of privacy in subscriber data held by their ISP. This decision continues the Garden State’s tradition of rejecting a 'third party doctrine' under its state constitution..."
From William McGeveran's blogpost, "N.J. Constitution Requires Subpoena for ISP Data"
<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2008/04/23/nj-constitution-requires-subpoena-for-isp-data/>
About William McGeveran:
<http://www.law.umn.edu/facultyprofiles/mcgeveranw.html>

"Last week I went to a meeting about Apple’s new “iTunes U” initiative. iTunes U got started about a year ago and now seems to be gaining more momentum and a bigger presence in iTunes overall. The basic idea is to create a platform for colleges, universities and selected other “beyond campus” providers of educational content to offer lectures, presentations, classes and other content for free download by students and/or the public at large..."
From Jake Shapiro's blogpost, "What if iTunes enabled voluntary payments?"
<http://www.jakeshapiro.com/2008/04/20/what-if-itunes-enabled-voluntary-payments/>
About Jake Shapiro:
<https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/jshapiro>

"Where is the butter? — cry Japanese consumers who have been hunting everywhere for the dairy product. The drastic reduction in raw milk production, complicated by hikes in the price of grain as well as changes in the global patterns of dairy product consumption, have caused a serious butter shortage in Japan. Empty shelves in the dairy section of grocery stores across the country have not seen a shipment of butter for days, and stores are posting signs apologizing for the shortage...'"
Excerpted from , "Japan: Where has all the butter gone?"
<http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/04/23/japan-where-has-all-the-butter-gone/>
About Global Voices:
<http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/about/>

"Cambridge, MA, May 12, 2006 - Global Voices co-founder and Berkman Fellow Ethan Zuckerman delivers a magnificent, breathless history of digital community, by way of prefacing a Beyond Broadcast panel on the community dimension of media. Reaching back to the mid-60s and ARPANET, Ethan makes a propulsive case for the foundational role of communications between people -- email, chat, MUDs, MySpace, more -- in the development of the Net. More than a quarter century after ARPANET, why do we care? Take a few minutes to find out how Ethan answers..."
From the Berkman@10 blogpost, "Ethan Zuckerman: the history of digital community, in less than 7 minutes"
<https://cyber.harvard.edu/node/4255>
About Berkman@10:
<http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/berkmanat10>

Join us May 15-16 for what promises to be a unique gathering of Internet luminaries, cyberlawyers, entrepreneurs, activists, geeks, media makers and journalists, students, and more. The Berkman@10 Conference offers a chance to reflect critically on the last ten years of the development of the Internet and to look ahead to the crucial questions we face in the next ten years of cyberspace.
Register at:
<http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/berkmanat10/registration>